READING SET 2 ODTÜ İNGİLİZCE YETERLİK SINAVI OKUMA BÖLÜMÜ
SADECE BİREYSEL KULLANIM İÇİNDİR
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READING SET 2
Page 1 of 16
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
(30 points)
READING SET 2
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
SECTION I: SENTENCE COMPLETION Questions 1-4 Mark the alternative which best completes each sentence or thought. 1. There are many social class-based conspiracy theories that try to explain the success of private high schools in recent years. However,___________. a) look at any of the global rankings and you will see that British and American universities dominate most of the leading 100 places b) any attempts to increase equality by getting rid of elitism sometimes achieve the opposite c) even in the recession, a few parents are pulling their children out, but plenty more are insisting to get them in these schools d) the main reason why these schools prosper is their ability to get students into elite universities 2.
At the turn of the century, researchers felt sure that the understanding of the causes of Alzheimer’s disease would result in a cure, but, unfortunately, the hoped-for understanding has not come. As a consequence, __________. a) the problem of what causes Alzheimer’s disease is profound b) a fundamental problem is that, whatever is causing the damage, treatment is starting too late c) many potential cures that looked promising to researchers have failed in clinical trials d) the number of people suffering from the disease is expected to decrease substantially by 2050
3.
Comic-book superheroes now dominate cinema screens just the way movie stars did in the 1980s and 1990s. Indeed, ________. a) not one of these cartoon superhero films will win an Academy Award for best film b) these days it is extremely difficult to push the earlier cartoon characters into public consciousness c) several attempts to create films based on comic-books fail because the comic-book companies are worried about spoiling their property d) the cartoon superhero has taken the place of the movie star of earlier decades
4.
In the Australian cities of Sydney and Brisbane water supplies are so low that these cities need urgent measures against droughts. For example, _________. a) over the past 50 years Australia has lost about 20 per cent of its rainfall b) water tanks that use roofs to collect rainwater should be installed in all the houses that can accept them c) Australians need to stop worrying about the “drought” and start talking about the new climate d) Australia must start a global campaign for a quick and decisive reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
Page 2 of 16
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 2
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
SECTION II: PARAGRAPH COMPLETION Questions 5-7 Mark the alternative which best completes each paragraph. 5.
The local Turkana people in North Kenya are a typical example of climate-change migrants. Turkana’s numbers have risen in recent decades, and will double again before 2040. But as the area gets hotter and drier, it has less water, grazing and firewood. The drought cycle in northern Kenya has gone from once every eight years to every three years and may diminish further. __________ . The result is an increasingly desperate move from one dry place to another. a) The International Organisation for Migration thinks there will be 200m climatechange migrants by 2050 b) These numbers may bring to mind a picture of huge, hopeless masses, trekking long distances c) They overrun border defenses because their homelands have dried up d) That means there is no time for recovery for the Turkana and their cattle
6.
The causes of autism remain mysterious, although studies of twins suggest that genetic factors play an important role. Still, genetic influences alone cannot explain such a rapid and astronomical rise in a disorder’s occurrence over the last years. __________. The causal factors proposed include antibiotics, viruses, allergies, more opportunities for parents with mild autistic traits to meet and mate, and, in one recent study conducted by Cornell University researchers, increased rates of television viewing in young children. a) As a consequence, investigators have turned to environmental factors for potential explanations b) Few of these influences have been investigated systematically, and all remain speculative c) At first sight, vaccines would seem to make a possible candidate for the source of the increase in the cases of autism d) The proportion is extremely high compared with the figure of one in 2,500 that autism researchers had accepted for decades
7.
The fossil record tells us that the oldest member of our own species lived 195,000 years ago in what is now Ethiopia. From there it spread out across the globe. __________. Adaptations to these many locations (among other evolutionary forces) led to what we loosely call races. Groups living in different places evidently retained just enough connections with one another to avoid evolving into separate species. a) Researchers found that at least 7 percent of human genes underwent evolution as recently as 5,000 years ago. b) By 10,000 years ago modern humans had successfully colonized each of the continents except for Antarctica c) Even today the conditions of modern life could be causing changes in genes for certain behavioral trait d) In common with other organisms, we underwent the most important changes to our body shape when our species first appeared
Page 3 of 16
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 2
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
SECTION III: SUPPORTING IDEAS Questions 8-10 In the following items, three of the alternatives support the main statement or idea and one does not. Mark the alternative that DOES NOT support the given topic statement.
8. Natural selection in our species is being prevented by our technology and our medicines. a) b) c) d)
9.
In most parts of the globe, babies no longer die in large numbers. People with genetic damage that was once fatal now live and have children. Natural predators no longer affect the rules of survival. Certain characteristics of modern life make us less fit to survive.
According to new research, vaccines have non-medical benefits too, in the form of the production of income that would otherwise have been lost. a) Healthy workers are more productive and thus can earn more. b) The previous attempts to calculate the non-medical benefits of vaccination looked at the cost of vaccination programs and lives saved. c) Good health promotes savings because healthy people live longer and have more time to save. d) Expectations about good health promote demographic transition from large to small families that usually accompanies economic development.
10. The main driving force behind the growth of home-schooling in the U.S. is the religious conservatives. a) For parents who want their children to grow up relatively unexposed to doubt, Darwin or indecent lunchroom chatter, home-schooling offers hope. b) Home-schooling parents think that at public schools their children would not get any Christian instruction. c) American public schools are strictly secular, without any connections to religious matters, and private schools are expensive. d) 88% of home-schooling parents said that their local public schools were unsafe and drug-ridden.
Page 4 of 16
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 2
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
SECTION IV: TEXT COMPREHENSION Questions 11-30 On your answer sheet, mark the alternative which best answers the question or completes the statement about the text. Reading text 1 (1) The headlines of India's growth story are well known —after the country began reforming in the early 1990s, economic growth jumped to about 7 percent. It slowed in the late '90s but since 2002 has continued at a very fast pace, surpassed only by China among the world's large economies. Less well known is how this growth is reshaping the lifestyle of Indian families. The McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) research describes an intense transformation that will touch Indians up and down the income pyramid, from the poorest rural farmer to the wealthiest IT entrepreneur. Companies that fail to understand the unique desires and tastes of the new Indian consumer will miss out on a half-billion-strong market that along with China ranks as one of the most important growth opportunities of the next two decades. (2) One of the most striking findings is how dramatically recent growth has reduced the numbers of the poorest Indians, a group we call the disadvantaged. They earn less than 90,000 Indian rupees a year ($1,969 per household, or about a dollar per person per day), and include farmers who have minimal resources for surviving and unskilled labourers who often struggle to find work. They can be found across India, from its isolated villages to its spreading out urban slums. Many depend on government-subsidized food to get enough calories each day. Since 1985, the ranks of the disadvantaged have fallen from 93 percent to 54 percent of the population, as 103 million people moved out of desperate poverty and many millions more were born into less depressing circumstances. When we factor in population growth, there are 431 million fewer disadvantaged Indians today than there would have been had the poverty rate remained stuck at its earlier level. This development makes India's economic reforms the most effective anti-poverty program in its history. (3) If growth continues at its recent pace, we expect a further 291 million people to move out of poverty over the next two decades. Most of these former poor will move into the class we call the aspirers, households earning between 90,000 and 200,000 rupees ($1,969-$4,376) per year. Aspirers are typically small shopkeepers, farmers with their own not-large-but-sufficient landholdings or semiskilled industrial and service workers. Their lives are not easy, but aspirers generally have enough food and might own items such as a small television, a stove running on natural gas and an electric rod for heating water. They spend about half of their income on basic necessities, and many of their other purchases are bought second-hand or in what Indians call the "informal economy." Over the next 20 years this group will shrink from 41 per cent of the population to 36 per cent, as many of them move up into the middle class.
Adapted from: www. newsweek.com
Page 5 of 16
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 2
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
11. Concerning consumption patterns, it is implied in the text that __________. a) b) c) d)
Indians, across the board, will start consuming an increasing range of goods there is now a larger market in India than in China some Indian companies won’t be able to adapt to the changing desires and tastes the new upper class in India and China will provide a half-billion market for international companies
12. As we understand from the text, very poor Indians _________. a) b) c) d)
constitute now 93 per cent of the population do not get enough calories in spite of government support remain in desperate situation despite anti-poverty programs live in rural areas as well as cities
13. It is suggested in the text that some aspirers ___________. a) b) c) d)
have now stopped buying second-hand items will experience losses in their income in the next 20 years will start enjoying the lifestyle of the middle class can now afford high-tech machinery
Page 6 of 16
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 2
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
Reading text 2 (1) Perhaps the most significant of all stories in the history of archaeology has been the rapid expansion in the range and variety of what archaeologists regard as information or data. Four centuries ago William Camden’s data included ancient texts, landscapes, and material culture. In the twenty-first century archaeologists can use the discoveries of science and technology to extract information from a puzzling array of sources— everything from dating emissions of light from sands to recovering DNA from ancient tools. However, all of these great developments arose, in part, from another somewhat more basic factor— the extraordinary increase in the amount of field survey and excavation that occurred during the twentieth century. (2) During the twentieth century the practice of archaeology moved from its birthplace and heartland of Europe, the Middle East, and North America into the rest of the world. Of course archaeology was practiced outside this heartland during the nineteenth century but generally only in small-scale and irregular projects. The creation of a world archaeology, the greatest achievement of the discipline during the twentieth century, was the result of a wide range of factors, such as developments in method, theory, training, and education; changing attitudes to the importance of archaeological heritage; the growth of different interests in the past (especially among native groups, the citizens of postcolonial nations, and of course various groups within societies); and the huge expansion in funding from both private and government sources. This last factor is a sure sign of the great significance of archaeology and archaeological heritage in the modern world. (3) Although the overall impression of archaeology in the past forty years has been of disorder in archaeological theory and the perceptions of the purpose of the field, it is important to remember that for much of the twentieth century the program of culture history held undeniable influence. Indeed, it has often been observed that, despite all the obvious turbulence within the field, the vast majority of practitioners worldwide still stick to its basic principles. Adapted from: Murray, T. (2007) Milestones in Archaeology : A Chronological Encyclopaedia. 14. The text emphasizes that an important advantage of archaeologists in the twenty-first century is that they can ______. a) b) c) d)
make better use of ancient texts work in depth in a small number of excavations settle the theoretical arguments more easily gather data from a vast range of sources
15. As we learn from the text, in the modern world, archaeology has become a field that ______. a) b) c) d)
is widely practiced outside its area of birth concentrates more on the past of native groups suffers from a lack of funding is more popular in the western world than in other parts
Page 7 of 16
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 2
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
16. The writer thinks that the field of archaeology is progressing despite ______. a) b) c) d)
the lack of some basic principles theoretical disruptions in the field a disrespect for archaeological heritage in certain parts of the world the difficulties encountered in educating and training practitioners
Page 8 of 16
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
(30 points)
READING SET 2
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
Reading text 3
(1)Bubonic plague, smallpox, polio, HIV—the timeline of history is marked with diseases that have shaped the social atmospheres of different periods, defined the reach of science and medicine, and stolen many great minds before their time. But there is one disease that seems to have pursued humanity far longer than any other: tuberculosis. Fossil evidence indicates that tuberculosis (TB) has troubled humans for more than half a million years. No one is exempt. It affects rich and poor, young and old, risk takers and those who show selfcontrol. Simply by coughing, spitting or even talking, an infected individual can spread the bacterium that causes the disease. (2) Today TB ranks second only to HIV among infectious killers worldwide, claiming nearly two million lives every year, even though existing drugs can actually cure most cases of the disease. The problem is that many people lack access to the medicines, and those who can obtain the drugs often fail to complete the lengthy treatment procedure. Additionally, TB is evolving faster than our therapies are. In recent years, investigators have observed a worrying rise in the number of cases resistant to more than one of the firstline drugs used to treat the illness. Even more worrying, we have begun to see the appearance of types that are resistant to every last one of the antibiotic defenses. (3) The disease is particularly devastating for the developing nations, where some 90 percent of cases and 98 percent of TB deaths occur. Beyond bringing terrible suffering and grief there, TB harms entire economies. With 75 percent of cases occurring in people between the ages of 15 and 54, TB will rob the world’s poorest countries of an estimated $1 trillion to $3 trillion over the next 10 years. Furthermore, the disease forces these struggling nations to divert their precious resources from other important areas into health care. But the developed world would be mistaken to consider itself safe: although the frequency there is comparatively low, that situation could change if a highly resistant type were to gain power. Adapted from: www.scientificamerican.com
17. The writer makes the point that tuberculosis ______. a) b) c) d)
is marking our era as the most serious disease caused greater harm in history than diseases like bubonic plague is the disease that has affected humanity the longest has become more contagious in our times
Page 9 of 16
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 2
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
18. What is one of the challenges faced in TB treatment today? a) b) c) d)
Many patients fail to complete the complicated treatment course. The disease causing bacterium has not been analysed sufficiently. Patients resist to take certain drugs. The disease is spreading in the rich developed countries.
19. According to the writer, an alarming situation occurred in TB treatment when scientists realized that ______. a) b) c) d)
90 percent of patients in the developing nations do not have access to the medicines trillions of dollars would have to be spent on new drugs over the next decade worldwide 98 percent of TB cases result in death certain new forms of the disease do not respond to any antibiotics
20. The writer emphasizes that one reason why TB is causing so much harm in poor countries is that ______. a) b) c) d)
developing nations do not spare enough resources for health care TB mostly affects the age group who is economically active poor countries cannot afford most of the new medicines drug-resistant types of the illness tend to appear in poor countries
Page 10 of 16
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 2
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
Reading text 4 (1) No one is certain where, when, or how glass originated. It may have appeared first in the Middle East in regions such as Egypt and Mesopotamia around 3000 to 2000 B.C. although there are indications of glazing on pottery as early as 8000 B.C. Glass was certainly discovered by accident by Phoenician traders, who noticed that a clear liquid formed when the nitrate blocks on which they placed their cooking pots melted and mixed with sand from the beach. Egyptian craftsmen developed a method for producing glass bowls around 1500 B.C., and the first instructions of glassmaking appeared on Assyrian stone tablets about 650 B.C. About 2000 years ago, Syrian craftsmen invented glassblowing, a skill adopted by the Romans, who carried it with them as they conquered Western Europe. (2) The rise of Venice to prominence in the 13th century enabled this city to become the centre of glassmaking in the western world. As the industrial revolution gathered strength, new manufacturing technologies made the mass production of glass items possible. Historically, glass has been used in five different ways, which changed depending on the locality. Glass beads and jewellery were produced almost everywhere throughout Eurasia before 1850, with glass becoming a replacement for precious stones. The use of glass containers was largely restricted to the western part of Eurasia until the 1850s, with little evidence of use in India and China. In the Islamic regions, the use of glass declined dramatically from about the 14th century until modern times due to the Mongol invasions.
(3) The reasons for the different uses of glass in different parts of the world may be largely accidental, reflecting variations in climate, drinking habits, political events, and many other characteristics. Purpose, planning, superior intelligence, or better resources seem to have little to do with it. Yet these accidents brought about the move of western European societies around the knowledge-innovation-quantification triangle. Progress in glassmaking and the production of more complex glass instruments yielded more correct information about the natural and physical worlds, which fed back into refinements in glass manufacturing and, thus, in glass quality. Adapted from: http://www.udel.edu/chem/GlassShop/articlesofinterest.html
Page 11 of 16
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 2
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
21. According to the text, which of the following is certain about the early history of glass? a) b) c) d)
Glass first appeared in Egypt around 2000 BC. A primitive form of glass was discovered as early as 8000 BC. Phoenicians made glass accidentally while heating their pots. Glass was first used in the making of cooking pots.
22. As we understand from the text, the people who spread the skills of making glass to other areas were the ________. a) b) c) d)
Egyptians Assyrians Syrians Romans
23. In paragraph 2, the word “prominence� probably means __________. a) b) c) d)
attractive area important position remarkable craftsmanship manufacturing centre
24. Which one of the following is true about glass containers? They _________. a) b) c) d)
were more common in Europe than in Asia developed in the Islamic territories after the 14th century lost their popularity once glass became an alternative to precious stones spread in Europe only after the 1850s
25. It is implied that improvements in glass making ______. a) b) c) d)
occurred in societies that already used glass in a superior way required careful planning of the available resources caused western Europe to acquire more scientific knowledge resulted in the production of similar glass instruments around the world
Page 12 of 16
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 2
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
Reading text 5
(1) The Atkins diet has been accused, variously, of causing a drop in bread sales, a rise in beef consumption and bad breath. It allows a dieter to eat as much protein as he –or shedesires, so long as only tiny amounts of carbohydrate are consumed. Moreover, if dieters stick to it firmly, it seems to work. The question is, why? Robert Atkins, the diet’s inventor, went to his grave believing that he had discovered a way to disrupt the body’s normal metabolic processes. He thought his diet somehow stimulated bodily tissues to burn more stored fat than they would otherwise have done. More recent research, though, suggests that it is not so. Several studies have found that increasing the amount of protein in a person’s diet speeds up and extends the feeling of feeling full. This feeling reduces the dieter’s desire to eat, and therefore the amount of food he consumes. An Atkins dieter is thus on a lowcalorie diet in which no determination is necessary other than a strict refusal to consume carbohydrates. (2) The reason why a high protein intake causes this feeling of being full was, however, unknown. That is no longer the case. Rachel Batterham of University College, London, and her colleagues think they have the answer. In a recent paper, they showed that the connection between protein intake and weight control is a small protein molecule, called peptide YY. Peptide YY is a hormone that regulates hunger. Though it is released into the bloodstream from the intestines, it actually acts in a specific part of the brain that controls appetite. That role was well known before Dr Batterham’s study. She, however, was interested in exactly what stimulates peptide YY’s release from the intestines in the first place. A series of experiments with volunteers showed that, as she suspected, it was the high-protein meal that caused the greatest production of the peptide. (3) The next idea Dr Batterham experimented with was whether peptide YY might be used directly as a slimming agent. In this way, she would get rid of the side effects of a diet composed of meat, eggs and cheese. The side effects include diabetes and heart disease. Dr Batterham did that by using mice that had had the gene for peptide YY knocked out of their DNA, and thus could not produce the hormone. During the experiment, obese mice stayed obese even when they were fed on a diet similar to Atkins’. However, when peptide YY was given at appropriate levels, they lost weight even on a normal, non-Atkins diet. All of this is encouraging to those who find themselves unable either to stand the idea of steakand-more-steak diet, or simply to eat less and exercise more. Though many molecular magic treatments for weight loss have been tried in the past - and either failed, or had unwanted side-effects - hope is continuing forever. And so is money from pharmaceutical companies.
Adapted from: www.economist.com
Page 13 of 16
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 2
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
26. The writer argues that, as opposed to what the inventor thought, the Atkins diet _________. a) b) c) d)
does not cause the metabolism to burn more fat does not reduce the dieter’s desire to eat is not similar to a low-calorie diet cannot be followed by increasing the consumption of meat
27. What was not known about the hormone peptide YY before Dr. Batterham’s study? a) b) c) d)
How it is released from the bowels. Whether it has a role in controlling appetite. What really increases its production. Which part of the brain it affects.
28. According to the text, researchers are trying to isolate and use peptide YY as a separate agent so that ________. a) b) c) d)
they can turn it into a new diet drug that hasn’t got the side effects of the previous one they can control the excessive production of the hormone in some people people can enjoy the benefits of the Atkins diet without having to follow the diet people can eat as much meat as they want without having the undesirable side effects
29. In the experiment with mice, what was the effect of the injection of the hormone peptide YY on the mice? a) b) c) d)
It made them vulnerable to certain combinations of food It affected the related gene in their DNA negatively It gave the most benefit when they were on a non-Atkins diet It caused them to lose weight regardless of their diet
30. It is suggested in the text that pharmaceutical companies _______. a) b) c) d)
are aware of the fact that there is no magic drug that causes weight loss are always willing to invest in the research and production of diet drugs want to make sure the product will work before investing any money have learned a lesson from past failures in weight-control products
Page 14 of 16
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 2
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
ANSWER KEY 1.d 2.c 3.d 4.b 5. d 6. a 7. b 8. d 9. b 10. d 11. a 12. d 13. c 14. d 15. a 16. b 17. c 18. a 19. d 20. b 21. c 22. d 23. b 24. a 25. c 26. a 27. c 28. c 29. d 30. b
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EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
(30 points)